Tracking an album collection that keeps growing with a pinch of local music and life.

Electric Light Orchestra

Starbuck was a rock band formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1974 by Bruce Blackman and Bo Wagner. Starbuck’s debut single, “Moonlight Feels Right”, reached the #3 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in 1976. Although the band never re-created the success of their debut, several of their songs did chart in the Billboard Top 100 and their 1977 release “Everybody Be Dancin'” reached #38.

From 1976 to 1980, the band toured with popular groups of the era including ELO, KC & the Sunshine Band, Hall & Oates and Boston. TV appearances included American Bandstand, The Merv Griffin Show, Dinah!, The Mike Douglas Show and Solid Gold.

The Ventures have had an indelible influence on a large number of musicians, both professionals and amateurs. Their instructional album, Play Guitar with the Ventures, was the first such record to chart on the Billboard Top LPs list, peaking at No. 96, and taught thousands of budding guitarists how to play the guitar.

John Fogerty, during his introduction of The Ventures at their Hall of Fame induction, said, “Walk, Don’t Run kicked open a whole movement in Rock and Roll… The sound of it became ‘surf music’ and the audacity of it empowered guitarists everywhere.” Gene Simmons was even an early member of the Ventures Fan Club and the following bands have been inspired by the Ventures:

The Beach Boys, Blondie, Dave and Ray Davies from The Kinks, Roger Fisher from Heart, Peter Frampton, The Go-Gos, John Fogerty from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Roger Glover from Deep Purple, George Harrison from The Beatles, Elton John, Billy Joel, Robby Krieger from the Doors, Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra, Brian May from Queen, The Ramones, Max Weinberg from The E Street Band, Alan White from Yes and Ricky Wilson from the B-52s. Long enough list for ya?

Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. Despite early singles success in the United Kingdom, the band were initially more successful in the United States, billed as “The English guys with the big fiddles”. They soon gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. By the mid-1970s, they had become one of the biggest-selling acts in music.